Hagerty reports prices are up 17 percent compared to year-ago figures

Editor’s note: The ClassicCars.com Journal will be covering all of the action during Arizona Auction Week in Scottsdale, Arizona. Check out our other coveragehere

Although Barrett-Jackson has been selling collector cars for three days, Wednesday was the first day of Arizona Auction Week 2019 featuring action at multiple venues, and that action really kicks up Thursday as Bonhams, Russo and Steele and RM Sotheby’s open their dockets for bidding.

Overall, analysts from the Hagerty Insider, who are tracking the Arizona auction action, report that sales have improved by 11 percent in the numbers of vehicles sold and by 17 percent in the prices paid, compared with the same events a year ago. In addition to its new Hagerty Insider online publication, the company offers live auction results through a smartphone app.

Hagerty, the collector car insurance and vehicle valuation company, also reports that nearly 70 percent of the Arizona auction vehicles have been bid to “above condition-appropriate prices,” and that cars from the 1950s to 1980 have performed “markedly better than in 2017,” especially those priced between $25,000 and $50,000. In particular, vintage pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles have performed very well on the auction blocks.

As the week unfolds, such entry-level vehicles fill the early days dockets, before Bonhams, RM Sotheby’s and Gooding begin their auctions and before Barrett-Jackson cranks up with its best cars through the weekend. Thus all of the Top-10 overall sales so far this week occurred Wednesday evening at Worldwide’s auction, where the top sale was $990,000 for a 1959 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster.

Overall, Worldwide’s auction generated $9.1 million in sales, a significant improvement compared with its $6.1 million auction in 2018 in Arizona.